Maksim Chmerkovskiy is in Ukraine right now during the Russian invasion, and his brother Val is in America asking fans to pray for his safe return.
Maks took to Instagram a few times with live videos over the last two days checking in with fans concerning his safety during the escalating conflict.
This has weighed heavily on Val as he also used Instagram to let fans know his thoughts on the war and what it means to the people of Ukraine.
Val explains why his parents left Ukraine
Val posted a video on his Instagram Stories yesterday and then went in and added the text from the video to his regular timeline.
In this, he explained why his parents left Ukraine so long ago.
“My parents fled this country for this exact reason,” Val wrote. “Not because it wasn’t good to them, but because their kids would see war eventually. It’s a cruel irony that 28 years later my brother is in a bombshelter in Kiev.”
“If they hadn’t left I would be on the front lines defending my home right now. And the most heartbreaking thing of all I would be either killing or dying at the hands of my fellow brothers.”
He went on to say that the Russian people don’t want this, and they had stood side by side in the past. He also said that he speaks Russian but he is a proud Ukrainian and it is time the world knows the difference.
He finished by asking his Russian friends to stand up to their dictator.
He followed that up with another Instagram Stories post, this one with more text written on the post.
“This conflict will not end with surrender. Ever,” Val wrote. “When the military will go down, there will be partisan and guerrilla warfare for as long as there are Ukrainians still living. Both sides will have massive casualties. For many years to come.”
“Mothers will weep, kids will grow up without fathers, and for what??”
Maksim stuck in Ukraine during Russian invasion
Val asked fans to send prayers to his brother Maks, who is in Ukraine right now.
Both Val and Maks competed on Dancing with the Stars in America. Maks was working on a new season of the Ukraine version of the show at the time of the attacks.
“Please pray for my brother-in-law who is stuck in Ukraine,” Val pleaded. “The whole situation is devastating and truly heartbreaking for the country. This is real and this is very scary.”
Maks has been checking in with fans, saying that no one expected Russia to go through with the invasion of Ukraine and that he has not left yet.
According to Maks, it is too dangerous to head for the border because of situations on the road to Poland that are outside of the Russian invasion.